Friday, August 21, 2015

Microsoft Philippines #UpGradeYourWorld by building house for Gawad Kalinga

I've been volunteering building houses for Habitat For Humanity for many years when I was decades younger. I find this fulfilling because it makes me feel good about myself especially when I got to help other people building their new home.

Now, I got to do it again years later in my older self. This time at a Gawad Kalinga site in Nueva Ecija. I was invited to volunteer with Microsoft Philippines at the same time when the Windows 10 was released recently. Microsoft has many global outreach programs but it is only Microsoft Philippines that supports a community housing project like Gawad Kalinga.

When we got there, the community already has one phase of units occupied. But there are more houses that are in progress. We were divided in three groups on different tasks. Some ladies were painting the walls while the rest will do a relay of passing hollow blocks for makeshift road in a vacant area while some ladies were straining rocks and sand for the cement mix.

While this is ongoing, the Microsoft ambassadors are instructing the teachers in the nearby school how to use Windows 10 in the donated computers. In between breaks, I got to ask some of the residents about them, where they come from and how they got to approved at GK and how it benefited them.

But the best part of the community building that made it worthwhile is the budol fight where you can eat in a communal manner and enjoy the camaraderie. I am glad I was still able to do this even for my age and I would like to do it again.

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